Companies interested in Waupaca Online
The city of Waupaca is asking the companies that are interested in buying Waupaca Online to submit formal proposals.
"We will need to have at least two serious buyers to know if we are getting a good price," City Administrator Henry Veleker told the Common Council during a Dec. 20 Committee of the Whole meeting.
The meeting was held prior to the council’s regular monthly meeting. The purpose was to update the council on the progress of seeking a buyer for the utility.
The council voted in October to seek a buyer for its high-speed, wireless Internet service. That decision came after the utility lost more than 50 customers in 12 months.
It was about nine years ago that the city established Waupaca Online, and the city continues to maintain the service while a sale is evaulated.
Veleker told the council that approximately four companies are expected to submit proposals.
The council’s October vote called for another discussion about Waupaca Online to be held in January if a buyer was not found by the end of this year.
In a Dec. 16 memo to the council, Veleker said, "One firm has met with staff and toured our facilities. A second firm was scheduled this week but canceled due to the illness of one of their team members. With the holidays fast approaching, it will be dificult perhaps to get all site visits done this month."
Veleker planned to write letters to the four companies that have expressed an interest in Waupaca Online, telling them proposals are due by the end of January and that they should call the city to schedule site visits.
With the city continuing to operate the utility during the sales process, several changes were recently made.
"What we have learned the last couple weeks," Veleker told the council, "is it’s important to not lose any customers."
It is the customers that potential buyers value.
The city rebranded Waupaca Online with a new logo and sent Christmas cards to its customers. Brochures have been given to Country Welcome for distribution to those who recently moved to the area.
"We’re trying to do some of the little things," Veleker said.
He said they want to keep the transaction as simple as possible and asked the council how potential buyers should be evaluated.
Alderman Dave Shambeau, who is in the real estate business, said, "It’s been my experience that you can make yourself crazy wondering what someone is going to offer. I think you get an offer in hand and then you look at it. There’s a thousand variables here. If someone makes an offer, they will expect a counter offer."
When Veleker later asked if the city should evaluate such things as customer service, Shambeau said, "I don’t think it’s for me to decide what kind of services they have."
Veleker said many of Waupaca Online’s customers live outside the city, asking Shambeau if he cares about those customers.
Shambeau said that in the city, there are many Internet options, with more now becoming available outside of the city through cellphones.
He said rural Waupaca Online customers should not be at the expense of the city.
Veleker then told him he was being "myopic," before adding, "Maybe I’m over-analyzing, but how do you get an apples to apples comparison?"
Shambeau said, "I would tell everyone there is a drop-end date for offers. Compare them. You could make multi counter offers. Don’t put a lot of parameters on their businesses, and tell them how to run it."
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21 Comments for "Companies interested in Waupaca Online"
He doesn't have a CLUE as to how people in rural areas connect to the internet.
Furthermore, he doesn't YET REALIZE that it's the customers outside of town who are the MOST VALUABLE customers, because they have no other options. City dwellers can choose between Charter, DSL, and WOL - which is why so few of them have signed up with the worst of the three. It will be years before the smart customer would consider giving up their cable internet for WOL.
That's OK. If the city doesn't understand how valuable WOL could be - then they will accept a low bid (even the highest bid will be low) - and it's more likely WOL will live on - profitably. Note to new owners: first order of business it to change the name.
As for him being in the real estate business - that's the business of selling something you don't own and didn't produce, to somebody who would rather never do business with you, if they had a choice. Aside from keeping track of expenses and taxes - there's no business acumen to be found in real estate.
As for Veleker - he's asking a bunch of questions that basically amount to: "Can anyone tell me how to do my job?"
After 9 years, he's "learned this week" that [b] [u]customers are important to a utility?![/u] [/b] Absolutely pitiful - and the fact that he said it out loud into a microphone and camera: just plain sad.
The Christmas cards? Again, would be hilarious, if the gesture wasn't so sad. Who in this world thinks that a card will keep a customer; after 9 years of bumbling, incompetent, expensive, ill-conceived service? It's like handing out candy at a funeral and wishing, "I hope he gets better soon".
lastpercentile Dec 23, 2011 10:59 AM
Seriously.
There's at least one skeleton in the WOL closet that the city is hoping to keep quiet.
lastpercentile Dec 23, 2011 11:19 AM
aboutblank Dec 25, 2011 8:49 AM
[u]US Cellular:[/u]
$159 3G modem, that works on one computer.
$50 a month
5GB choke point
$1 for every 4MB of overage
(with a promise to charge you no more than $200 a month in overage!)
[u]Cellcom:[/u] Their plan is virtually identical, so much so, as to assume they are in collusion (which they are).
And, this presumes that you can get a connection to their towers, which is hit and miss - according to their own coverage maps. Paying by the MB is asinine no matter how you describe it. And 3G (at its best) is about one-third of the speed over WOL.
This isn't the 1950s, and nobody is going to run that last mile of wire for 7 customers per mile.
The bottom line is - the rural customers are going to be more loyal (and were loyal, despite the Laurel & Hardy WOL management) than city dwellers, because cable internet is universal inside the limits.
The new owners should (and probably will) abandon efforts anywhere Charter is operating.
lastpercentile Dec 25, 2011 1:04 PM
aboutblank Dec 26, 2011 9:10 AM
And, you don't know what you're talking about.
lastpercentile Dec 26, 2011 11:03 AM
timeforchange Dec 27, 2011 8:13 AM
timeforchange Dec 27, 2011 8:25 AM
You pay $35 for phone service. Verizon doesn't offer high speed internet in 54981.
lastpercentile Dec 27, 2011 8:57 AM
I think you are the ignorant one here. All I am saying is that there are alternatives to WOL for wireless internet. You said there were "no other options", which is not the case. Get a clue last.
aboutblank Dec 27, 2011 10:45 AM
None of the so-called alternatives meet the definition of high speed internet; so, in terms of high speed internet connectivity - there are no alternatives.
lastpercentile Dec 27, 2011 1:31 PM
aboutblank Dec 27, 2011 3:55 PM
3G has an average connection speed of 0.7Mbit/sec, which is less than half the standard for broadband. 3G is not broadband, and yet they charge MORE than broadband would cost, if it were available.
Satellite barely meets the definition of broadband, if (and only if) you pay for the most expensive "PRO" plan. And $80/month doesn't buy you an unlimited connection; it has a choke point too. So you're back to the days of AOL, with usage-based billing.
The rest of the so-called alternatives you listed are NOT AVAILABLE to rural Waupaca residents.
lastpercentile Dec 27, 2011 11:45 PM
Dec 28, 2011 11:24 AM
Kinda sassy of Mr. V. then a quick recovery when realization set in not to jeopardize any of that super-majority council vote to terminate those wonders who hired him wrote into the contract (yeah...OVER-analysis has been a true hallmark of THIS city management and government...).
Rumor is the WOL "Nerve Center" is pretty scary with much binder twine & duct tape in use so wonder how much potential buyers will be impressed.
verytiredofit Dec 28, 2011 6:22 PM